gun control

The Florida Senate on Monday night passed a comprehensive gun control and school safety bill crafted in response to the Parkland shooting by the narrowist margin.

Before passing the bill 20-18, the Republican-led Senate scaled down the plan for allowing teachers to be armed. Under the new version, people who are “exclusively” classroom teachers would not be allowed to carry concealed firearms unless they’re in the military or law enforcement. Other staff would still qualify.

The Florida Senate held a rare Saturday session, discussing legislation aimed at making schools safer, following the February 14th mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 14 students and three faculty members dead.

Hundreds of faithful at a Pennsylvania church on Wednesday carried AR-15-style rifles in adherence to their belief that a "rod of iron" mentioned in the Bible refers to the type of weapon that was used in last month's mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The armed ceremony at World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland, about 20 miles southeast of Scranton, featured gun-toting worshippers, some wearing crowns of bullets as they participated in communion and wedding ceremonies.

A clear majority of Florida voters support a nationwide ban on assault weapons and oppose arming teachers or school officials, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that 62 percent of voters favor a ban on assault weapons, and about two-thirds support “stricter gun laws,” like universal background checks or a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, while 56 percent oppose arming faculty members.

About 40 Parkland moms — and at least one dad and one kid — had a long, grueling day at the Capitol in Tallahassee on Tuesday. They waited for hours to speak to committees, struggled to understand last-minute amendments added to bills and strategized in the hallways between meetings with the governor and members of the Legislature.

The trip followed a higher profile one the week before from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students after the Feb. 14 shooting there that left 17 dead and more than a dozen others injured.

Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods say they won't sell guns to customers under 21, and both are putting new restrictions on ammunition sales.

Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the largest sports retailers in the U.S., has announced it is immediately ending its sales of military-style semi-automatic rifles and is requiring all customers to be older than 21 to buy a firearm at its stores. Additionally, the company no longer will sell high-capacity magazines.

One man in upstate New York sawed his AR-15 rifle into pieces and posted a video of it on Facebook. A woman in Connecticut did the same with her handgun. Not far from scene of the Florida high school shooting in Parkland, another man brought his assault weapon to police and asked them to destroy it.

As a veteran and West Point graduate, retired Florida real estate developer Al Hoffman Jr. says he knows what military-style weapons like the AR-15 can do.

“They're still designed to kill people,” said Hoffman, of North Palm Beach. “I don't care what anybody says, that's what they're for.”

Hoffman served as finance chair for the Republican National Committee and co-chair of both George W. Bush campaigns. Now, as a private citizen and major Republican donor, he plans to put his influence to use to ban assault weapons.